Content Archives

Ever meet a jerk you wanted to call a Summer’s Eve? Officially, you can dispense with the dispenser and call that person a douche. So says Oxford Dictionaries Online, which added douche and dozens of other words to its lexicon last month. My favorite is … Read More

The marketing team at Raven knows my disdain for exclamation points. Any piece with more than one earns a note from me saying, “One exclamation point can live. The others must die. You choose.” I don’t despise them. They have their place in this world. … Read More

Writers like me rejoiced when Google launched its Panda update. Content mills, whose low-quality articles hogged the top spots in the SERPs for certain keyword searches, created an environment where writing didn’t get the respect it deserves, both from inexperienced and indifferent writers looking to … Read More

In the Internet marketing world, it’s easy to get swept up into an echo chamber. We’re all creating content, reading each others’ content and hanging on Matt Cutts’ every word. But following my post on 10 unique sources to find content to share at Shareaholic, … Read More

“In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. ‘Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,’ he told me, ‘just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the … Read More

“Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day,” Orson Scott Card said. “The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.” If you’re a good writer, the key is knowing when and how to capture … Read More

Without futher ado, because this is one of those headlines that says everything: 1. Content Strategy Google Group This group started in 2008—yes, that’s at least how long content advocates have been advocating—and it’s still my first stop when I want to know what content … Read More

It’s no secret we think our friends at the online marketing agency Blueglass are pretty smart. Heck, we’re the premier sponsor of their upcoming conference. So when they acquired Voltier Digital, a boutique agency specializing in content marketing, we took notice. Content marketing is growing … Read More

Got a website? You need a content strategy. Too many websites are meticulously built and then filled with thrown-together content that doesn’t engage with the customer. Think about how you browse the Internet as a consumer. How often do you read a whole page of … Read More

I’m in beautiful Bend, OR this week attending and speaking at Bend WebCAM on “Tools of the Trade.” For the first time in as long as I can remember I had time to actually take in a few sessions instead of manning the Raven booth. … Read More